Shays more than doubles McMahon’s first quarter fundraising haul

Former GOP Congressman  Christopher Shays raised $455,638 for his Senate bid during January, February and March, according to totals released ballyhooed by his campaign today.

For those of you keeping score at home, Linda McMahon Tweeted 48 hours ago that she raised $172, 390 during the same period from 1,024 donors.

“We outraised her. That comes on the heels of the Quinnipiac Poll, which shows her numbers getting worse, our numbers getting better,” said Amanda Bergen, a spokeswoman for Shays. “We feel good about our quarter.”

The Shays campaign did not quantify how many people gave.

UPDATE:

McMahon’s campaign highlighted that 84 percent of its donors live in the state of Connecticut and that it has nearly $185,000 cash on hand.

“We are so grateful for the grassroots momentum these supporters are bringing to Team Linda,” said Corry Bliss, McMahon’s campaign manager. “These investors join the thousands of grassroots supporters who have joined Linda’s positive campaign to cut middle-class taxes and get Connecticut working again.”

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Not to be overlooked, McMahon loaned her campaign $965,000 during the first quarter, bringing her total personal investment in her second bid for Senate to $1.7 million.

That’s still a far cry from the $50 million of her own dough she spent in 2010, when McMahon was bested by Democrat Richard Blumenthal in the general election after winning the GOP primary.

“She can always write a check, but fundraising is an indication of support for a candidate. And we outraised her,” Bergen said.

Neil Vigdor